Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p13e..02n&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P13E-02
Physics
5417 Gravitational Fields (1221), 5430 Interiors (8147), 5450 Orbital And Rotational Dynamics (1221), 5455 Origin And Evolution, 5475 Tectonics (8149)
Scientific paper
Current lunar gravity field models include large uncertainties on the far side of the Moon. We developed a satellite-to-satellite Doppler tracking sub-system (RSAT) on SELENE (KAGUYA). Main function of RSAT is to relay Doppler tracking signals between the main orbiter (MAIN) over the far side and ground-based antenna. When MAIN is orbiting over the far side of the Moon, tracking signal in S band is relayed by Rstar to MAIN. Then MAIN returns the tracking signal to Rstar to downlink a coherent Doppler signal to the antenna. RSAT realizes the first direct observation of the gravity field over the far side of the moon. The most recent lunar gravity models from SELENE enable global gravity anomaly mapping of the Moon up to degrees as high as 100. Gravity anomaly of our new models on the near side is almost identical with that of Lunar Prospector, however, gravity anomaly map on the far side reveals dramatic improvement. Gravity signatures over far-side basins that used to be recognized as linear features are now identified as circular anomaly. New gravity model reveals a marked difference of gravity signatures between the near side and the far side. It has been well known that near-side gravity anomaly is dominated by mascons, that is, positive gravity anomaly indicating mantle uplift beneath basins. In contrast, far-side gravity field is characterized by rings of negative free-air anomaly over basins and large craters. Bouguer gravity anomaly map shows that such negative anomaly can be mostly attributed to topographic depression of basin, and that contribution of Moho variation is minor. Our new models suggest that elastic thickness of lithosphere was thin on the near side while was thick on the far side, and propose an important constraint on the origin of dichotomy.
Hanada Hideo
Iwata Takahiro
Namiki Noriuki
Team L.
Team R.
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